Centennial School District gets $500,000 for school-based health clinic

Jill Daniels, (right) School-Based
Health Center program manager, offers details to Centennial School
District student services director Lori Silverman on how the
Centennial High School wood shop will be transformed into a new
clinic.
JILLIAN DALEY/Special to The Oregonian

Centennial School District soon will house the first School-Based Health Center in Multnomah County without a Portland address, a project linked to the health reform goals of President Obama and Gov. John Kitzhaber.

The health center at Centennial High School in Gresham is being built with $500,000, available through Obama's Affordable Care Act. The clinic is geared toward students living in east Multnomah County, yet any students in grades kindergarten through 12 living in the county are welcome.

The clinic will be ensconced in the renovated woodshop at the high school by the end of this calendar year at the earliest, said Jill Daniels, the county's School-Based Health Center program manager. Daniels said she expects about 650 school children will use the clinic annually.

Clinic services will include physical exams as well as vision, dental and blood pressure screenings, immunizations, reproductive care such as birth control, mental health services, lab tests and health education.

The clinic will employ a nurse practitioner, receptionist, a medical support staffer, mental health consultant and community health nurses. The school's nurse will offer triage and case management for students with ongoing medical needs.

Insurance billings, Medicaid grants and public funds sustain Multnomah County's School-Based Health Center program. The county has 12 centers at schools throughout Portland. There are 63 state-certified school-based clinics in Oregon, and the number is expected to climb to more than 70 over the next two years.

The federal government awarded $2 million to school health centers in the state and $80 million to school-based clinics nationwide in December. The national health reform law portrays school clinics as a tool to boost access to preventive services.

Ify Aniefuna, Centennial High School student body president, said most people don't go to the doctor as soon as they get sick, especially if a health provider is far away, a problem the new clinic would address.

"Usually, you don't go to the doctor until it's gotten much worse, and it would be a prevention (measure) because it's close by," said the 18-year-old senior.

Kitzhaber's health care reform plan also supports the clinics by pushing for expansion of Coordinated Care Organizations, teams of health care providers serving people who receive care under the Oregon Health Plan. Their aim is to improve primary and preventive care so fewer Oregonians end up in emergency rooms and hospitals. Multnomah County is a founding member of one coordinated care network, Health Share of Oregon. More than 50 percent of the students who use the county's school-based clinics are on the Oregon Health Plan.

Daniels approached the school districts in east county about a new clinic because the area didn't have one. The choice of Centennial High School as the site for the next school health center came after a two-year process with more than 300 community participants.

The school board approved the choice based on a recommendation from a steering committee composed of school officials, Gresham-Barlow and Centennial school district board members and community members.

"The committee's recommendations were to site the first school-based health clinic at Centennial High School, the second one at Gresham High School, and the third one at Sam Barlow High School," said Athena Vadnais, community relations director at Gresham-Barlow School District.

Parent volunteer and steering committee member Lynn Ketch said community members realized the clinic was needed "not just for ourselves but for others."

Centennial School District's central location and ready space in the form of its unoccupied wood shop helped spur the community to choose it over the two other districts, Daniels said.

Another factor in the site selection was the high financial needs of Centennial students, measured in the percent qualifying for federally-subsidized free or reduced-price lunches. As of November, 68 percent of Centennial School District's 6,250 students were on the federal lunch program.

Student achievement will increase if students are healthier, and "healthy kids come to school,"said Lori Silverman, Centennial School District student services director.

Centennial School District Superintendent Sam Breyer said access to health care could reduce student absenteeism.

"One of the issues we are facing is chronic absenteeism, and one of the main reasons for chronic absenteeism is chronic health issues," Breyer said.

Kevin Ricker, principal of the 1,800-student Centennial High School, said an on-site clinic is full of job shadow opportunities.

"We're going to take advantage of that," Ricker said.

The new health center is "one more thing that keeps (students) connected to school," said Jamie Juenemann, principal of Centennial Learning Center, an alternative middle and high school where less than half of students graduate.

And connectivity keeps students in school and on the road to graduation, said Daniels.